Former police officer in Upton loses guns, license

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2012 at 6:00 AM

By Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A former Upton reserve police officer charged earlier this year with firearms and hunting violations after allegedly holding two hunters at gunpoint was placed on probation for a year yesterday and ordered to surrender his firearms and firearms license.

Rocco Addeo, 51, of 120 Milford Road, was arraigned in January on charges of impersonating a police officer, assault and battery and armed kidnapping with a firearm. Subsequently, the Massachusetts Environmental Police filed additional charges of obstruction of hunting and fishing activities (commonly called hunter harassment) and witness intimidation.

Westboro District Court Judge Vito Virzi dismissed the charges of impersonating a police officer and armed kidnapping with a firearm. On the charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, sufficient facts were found for a guilty finding but the charge was continued without a finding for a year. Mr. Addeo was placed on supervised probation for a year and charged a $65 monthly probation fee. The judge also ordered him to not possess any firearms and to surrender his firearms and license for the guns to the local police department by today.

Authorities said Robert P. Gervais and Thomas J. Maffei, both of Grafton, were lawfully hunting on public land Dec. 30 when the confrontation occurred on Milford Road.

According to court records, Mr. Gervais and Mr. Maffei saw Mr. Addeo’s friend, Eric St. Onge, 30, of 11 Bluebird Drive, Grafton, illegally kill a doe closer than 500 feet from homes on Milford Road. When Mr. St. Onge approached the two hunters, they allegedly told him they saw him shoot the deer down near the road and houses.

Mr. St. Onge told the hunters they should leave the area because the man at the bottom of the hill, Mr. Addeo, was an Upton police officer and he would be angry that they were on his land. The hunters protested that they were on public land and not on posted private property.

According to court records, a short time later the men saw Mr. Addeo running toward them and pointing a handgun at them. Mr. Addeo allegedly yelled at them and demanded that they get down on the ground and lay their guns on the ground.

The hunters told police that Mr. Addeo, who was a stranger to them, demanded to see their hunting licenses while screaming and holding his finger on the trigger the entire time he held them at gunpoint.

After a few minutes, Mr. Addeo allegedly put the gun away and told the hunters he wanted things to calm down, and they all walked out to the road together.

Charges against Mr. St. Onge — discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, intimidating a witness, unlawful killing of a deer and hunting an antlerless deer without a permit – were dismissed in May. Mr. St. Onge was also charged with hunter harassment, to which he admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding, but that charge was continued without a finding and he was ordered to pay $100 in court costs.